Writing and Publishing: After a Year of Publication

            

I decided to write about my thoughts now that I am getting ready to publish my third book, the second part of my NAVSA series. I guess most people don’t know all the decision making that goes into writing, publishing, and marketing a book. I suppose this happens whether you self-publish or not. The book still needs a cover, blurb, editing, etc.

On the other hand, I think there are too many things going on because I keep learning about them.

I am not the same person I was back in February 2017 when I published my first book.

I now know more than I ever thought possibly about the self-publishing industry and what it really means to go wide with something you created.

It’s scary. It’s wonderful. It’s disappointing. It’s rewarding. Yep, all those things and more.

As my third book is coming out, I think back on the decision I made a year ago and how I now have the knowledge to make it better.

THE RECRUIT

This is the first book I published back in February 2017. I published it directly through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) and then withdrew it to republish it with Pronoun in July 2017. Later, Pronoun went out of business, and I had to once more withdraw it from Amazon to republish using Draft2Digital.

This book is my baby and it has been the one that has shown me what the publishing industry is all about. It’s been a ride!

First, I am considering changing the title of “The Recruit” to something that tells readers this is a vampire story. Perhaps, “Vampire Secret Agency” or something. Although, what does that mean for the readers? For the publishing channels? For amazon.com or createspace.com or even Goodreads? Will it hurt or better my sales? It is perma-free and I get around 1-3 downloads a day. I’m #27,000 on amazon and… I think it can do better.

Or is this change too much?

At least I will run it through Grammarly and switch it to Scrivener to see if I can make it better.

I will add “Werewolf Phenomenon”‘s first chapter as a hook for the readers.

And I will definitely change the blurb to something more appealing in order for the book to find the right kind of readers.

A FEW DROPS OF FANTASY

This is a collection of five short stories I wrote as I learned about a story’s arch. All stories are taken from events that have happened to me, except for “Rivals”, which is the best story, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, I am not selling any copies. It is a little disheartening because the stories are really good. But, oh, well. I’ve heard that short story books don’t sell that well and also… Since no one knows why I am nobody takes a chance.

I still think I can do better. There is a little I can still control. I want a new cover. Something that calls out to the right kind of readers. I don’t know about the title yet, although I think I should leave it as it is.

It has crossed my mind to separate the short stories and offer them independently. Maybe offer some for free to get new followers.

One thing I am definitely doing is moving the best story, “Rivals” to the beginning of the book. Let it start awesome so people can see it when they preview it and be hooked. I realize now that my choice of story order wasn’t great. And all stories are great, don’t get me wrong, it’s just the start of “Rivals” it’s more dramatic because it needs to be dramatic.

WEREWOLF PHENOMENON

This is the sequel to “The Recruit”. It is my current WIP (Work in Progress) which will be on sale starting June 15th.

I am currently publishing everything through D2D… now, I wonder, should I skip D2D for Amazon and publish it on Amazon directly and use D2D for all others? Then I would need to switch The Recruit as well. Is this a good idea? A lot of people say it is.

I have heard there are a lot of things you can do in Amazon to market your book. It also gives you access to tracking you couldn’t see through D2D…

I may just go that route. The only problem would be formatting the book. Also, every time I make a change I will have to change in both D2D and Amazon, won’t I? Is it worth it? It might be. I will at least need to update it when I add the first chapter of part three… when it’s ready.

The blurb for this book isn’t done, yet. It must be good. It must be catchy! And it can’t be free! It’s an awesome story. It’s worth a few pennies. It’ll be worth the money. It must have a pre-order window!

THE LAST MEMBER

It has been called that since 2001. It is the next installment in the NAVSA series and sequel to “Werewolf Phenomenon”. It needs a new title. Planning needs to begin soon. And then a good cover and blurb. So much too do, too little time.

The more I learn, the more complicated everything becomes. I know I’m doing this because I love writing these stories, but it comes a time when I wonder why it has to be so stressful. Why do I need to make all these decisions? It seems there are too many things I can do wrong as an independent author.

But, I need to keep going. I can’t just stop and give up now.

What’s your story?
cheers!